Prepare for the Google Reader Shut Down on Monday

June 30, 2013 — -- The time has come. On Monday Google will pull the plug on its Google Reader RSS service, which has allowed users to read various news feeds and articles in one central Web application.

After July 1 the service will no longer be usable, as Google announced in March that usage of the product had declined and that it would prefer to focus on fewer products.

If you've never used the service, then this certainly doesn't affect you, but if you have been a big user of the service or had simply just used it a couple of times, you'll want to make sure you don't lose your collection of RSS feeds when Google flushes it down the toilet on Monday.

The back-up process is simple. Head to Google Takeout, log in with your account, select the "choose services button," select "Google Reader," click the "create archive" button, wait for it to create and then download it.

Our Picks for the Best Google Reader Alternatives

Now you'll have a backup of your collection of feeds saved to your computer, but the big question is what service you will want to read them in now.

Earlier this week we wrote an article on some of the best Google Reader alternatives and news applications out there. If you're looking for a straight-up RSS reader replacement, we highly recommend Feedly. The service is organized, really nicely designed and it has apps for the iPhone, iPads and Android phones.

Feedly allows you to also import your Google Reader feeds without having to do the Google Takeout process. You can just sign into Feedly with your Google account and import your feeds. The company says it has seen more than 8 million customers join the service since Google announced the death of Reader back in March.

If Feedly isn't for you, there's other options from Digg and AOL.

Check out our Google Reader alternatives article and the video above. Above all, just remember to act before July 1. We don't want your news collection to die along with Google's product.